Punch Drunk Love
by lillypilly11
Summary: Oneshot. 'She just stared at him, thinking he was wrong, that delirious didn't even begin to cover it.'


A/N: A short little thing, set at no particular time in the show; sometime in the future, I guess? No spoilers. My first Castle fic, enjoy!

* * *

It was late, another late night in a string of late nights actually, and Kate Beckett felt nothing much at all as she watched the pair of uniforms taking the perp down for processing.

There was no one to inform about the successful closing of the case, their vic, only eighteen years old, had been just a few months out of the foster care system with no family. No close friends that had turned up in the course of the investigation, either. It was always sad when that was the case, but it happened, and when it did it left her with a hollow feeling, like an important part of the process was missing.

A short time later she was seated at her desk, staring bleary-eyed at her computer.

"You know it's kind of late, in case you haven't noticed. Sure the paperwork can't wait till tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "It could, but I want this dirtbag out of my life, the sooner the better." Her eyes slid away from the screen and she saw the way he was sitting, half-slouched over the desk, head propped on his hand. "But you don't need to be here for this. Go home, Castle." He waved a hand at her in refusal and she pressed on. "Have you even seen Alexis in the past three days?"

"I'd go but she already called to say good night a few hours ago," he mumbled into his hand. "I think you're stuck with me until you get up and help me out of this chair."

She found herself tilting, till she had to lift a hand to prop her head up, mirroring Castle's slouch. She covered a yawn with her other hand, then continued filling in boxes, this time one-handed.

"You know what's good when you're really sleepy? A shoulder rub."

She snorted, unable to muster either a smile or a disapproving glare.

"Oh you thought I was offering? No I was thinking maybe you could..." He gestured behind his neck. "Feeling a little tight just here."

Lips pressed together she soldiered on, squinting at the too-bright screen.

He sighed at her non-reaction. "How about a coffee?" he suggested after a minute or two of silence, quickly lifting a hand and adding, "I'm actually offering this time."

She shrugged listlessly. "I don't know. I don't think just 'a coffee' would do it. I need like," she gestured vaguely, trying to think of the right word, "Like a... cauldron."

"A cauldron?"

"Yeah. A cauldron of coffee. Or a barrel. No, a _bathtub_. This definitely calls for a bathtub of coffee."

"Will we be _swimming_ in the coffee? Oh! Will we be naked?"

At that she almost cracked smile, glancing sideways at him. "I don't know, you bring me enough caffeine, Castle, you might get lucky."

Looking back down at the keyboard as she typed in a string of numbers, she heard his chuckle, feeling his amused gaze on her. "You're a little bit delirious right now, aren't you?" he said, delighted at the prospect. "I think I like it. You should be sleep-deprived more often."

She waved a dismissive hand at him, wordlessly telling him to quit bugging her. She didn't actually expect it to work, but the next time she looked up, his chair was empty. If she'd been less exhausted she might have wondered where he'd gone, but idle ramblings to Castle aside, all she really wanted was to get this done, go home, and collapse into bed.

And try to move on from a difficult case the only way she knew how - a tried and true process that involved going to sleep, waking up in the morning, and starting all over again with the next one. At least she could count on the fact there would always be another murder.

Long peaceful minutes passed, and she found herself blearily dotting the last 'i' and crossing the last 't' and trying to decide whether anyone would notice if she just passed out here on her desk. Hey, at least she'd have a short commute in the morning.

Her computer whirred into silence as it shut down and she rubbed a hand over her eyes and wondered why everything suddenly smelled like coffee.

There was a soft plonk beside her, and something sloshed onto the desk by her elbow. She looked up to see Castle had returned, and then she looked at what he had just set down on her desk.

"What is...?" She blinked and sat up straight.

It was... a cauldron. A big black cauldron, the plastic novelty kind you saw on Halloween filled with candy or dry ice. Only Halloween had been six months ago and the thing he'd put on her desk was not full of candy, it was full of coffee.

"They didn't have any bathtubs," he said.

"Where did you get this?" She could have sworn he'd been gone maybe ten minutes.

"I just, you know, ran out to that dollar store down the street, it's open all night. They had a bunch of holiday stuff still on the shelves."

She knew the store he was talking about, around here occasionally someone had to go out on a two AM emergency expedition for napkins, red vines, and white-board markers all in the name of bringing home a case. "Isn't that place like six blocks away?"

"When I say 'ran' obviously I mean I took a cab. It's a little late for, you know. Running."

"Uh-huh. And how am I supposed to drink the coffee?"

"We could find you a ladle of some kind."

"A ladle."

"Want me to run back to the dollar store? You're smiling. You're trying not to, Detective, but you are smiling."

_Of course I'm smiling, Castle, that's how you talk down a crazy person. Big smile and make no sudden movements._

That was her line. He was watching her, waiting for her comeback and see, she had one all prepared and ready to go.

She just stared at him, thinking he was wrong, that delirious didn't even begin to cover it.

"Well," he went on, suddenly less sure of himself, "I mean you're not smiling _now_. You, uh, you were though. Just now."

It was close to midnight, or maybe past it already, and she was tired and he'd taken a cab six blocks and made a gallon of espresso to make her smile.

She stood up. "Come with me."

Castle, her ever-present shadow, was close on her heels as she headed to the break room. "Am I in trouble now? Because you know you can yell at me out in the open. I mean, like you usually do." She let him talk as she stopped in the middle of the room, and he followed her in, trying to catch her eye while still staying out of smacking distance. "The thing is most women would think what I just did was charming, or hey, at least a little bit cute. Not that you're most women. Or that generalisations ever help in situations like this... which is really something I should remember. I'll just make a note for future reference, shall I? Uh."

And when he finally stopped babbling she moved forward, causing him to step nervously back till he came up against the counter by the espresso machine. And she advanced, advanced right into his personal space, and then a little further, fingers curling to meet his shirt front, advancing still and stretching up at the last moment because even in heels he was still just that little bit taller. His mouth dropped open as she pressed her lips to his. She'd taken him by surprise and she liked that.

Of course it might have seemed unlikely, a little incongruous, that she would be suddenly and impulsively kissing this man right in the middle of the precinct, break-room door not even closed, middle of the night or no. Kissing him and kissing him, in fact, and not really giving much thought to stopping any time soon. But if one of her colleagues had walked in, perhaps they wouldn't have found it so out of place. If there was one thing those who worked homicide knew, it was that everyone had their breaking point.

Castle had an arm wrapped tight around her back, a hand buried in her hair, and he was making these enthusiastic, approving sounds in his throat that made her smile against his mouth. Right now she could only muster a little surprise herself that this hadn't ever happened before. Once she stopped kissing him, whenever that was, she figured she might just take him home.


End file.
